Anarchist & Radical Book Club discussion

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Fiction with the theme of activism, anti-fascism, anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-corporatism, eco-warriors, guerrilla, underground movements, or direct action.

Books about fighting oppressive authorities and corporations. Titles do not have to be dystopian. This is different from strictly dystopian fiction in that the setting can be realistic, political, geographic, historical, or something else. Think "V for Vendetta," "Hayduke Lives!," "Little Brother," "The Monkey Wrench Gang," "Tomorrow, When the War Began" and the like. But I suppose "Mockingjay" could work here, too. Please add appropriate books to this list.

I've already made a lengthy classic dystopian book list on Goodreads; so I don't have any particular yen to dabble around any more with this particular site feature.

I just don't think it leads to anything fruitful. Equates merely to that many more people snoozing in their armchairs gazing at flickering monitors & plastic screens. Like little infants amused by colored plastic mobiles dangling over their cribs.

Question for you: bearing in mind that there's heaps of racism and sexism in the Third World [even in the absence of authoritarianism] and understanding that it is frequently found as well, in any still-remaining tribal, communal, or primitive social groups:

Why then, do you give any damn about such sob-sister BS when it's clearly just whiny, American, "cry-bully" syndrome? Pie-in-the-sky yearning for "more privileges". Airheads wishing for an excessive fairness for the sake of more cut-throat capitalism. A Utopian world which doesn't exist (and never will). That's my question to you.

I've got just one thing to reply to anyone who wrings-their-hands over how difficult it is, to "join the millionaire's circle" in this wonderful land of opportunity. I say: gee, how unfortunate. Too bad, so sad! Join the rest of the club! (Think: maybe wealth ought not to be anyone's goal in the first place).

Next: I feel that over-ardent and overzealous activism is itself, often a pose and a posture. Show-boating. Being a "do-gooder" is something that addictive personalities often indulge in. You can discover it easily in Lytton Strachey's famous biographies ('Eminent Victorians') for example, or even the 'Mrs. Jellyby' character in Dickens' 'Bleak House'.

Finally: the way I've ultimately come to feel about 'fighting the good fight' ...well, are Americans today worth 'saving' anymore? I kinda feel like ...hell, just 'screw em. F*ck 'em. They have already embraced totalitarianism and oligarchy, of their own free will. It's no longer just Republican fat-cats who are at fault.

It turns out that Americans want to be 'led'; they want to be lied to. It doesn't even matter to anyone anymore. And they don't desire the hard-work and effort of democracy. Our formerly truth-based system has collapsed into a mesh of lies and liars; our neighbors have acquiesced to a brain-dead, mass-media based, medieval mindset.

Bottom line: I'm not lifting a finger for these losers anymore.

Feliks wrote: "I've already made a lengthy classic dystopian book list on Goodreads; so I don't have any particular yen to dabble around any more with this particular site feature.

I just don't think it leads t..."

Not sure that the nihilist essay is overly relevant to this post, or a group for leftists, or indeed on a social media platform about books in general. But I did get a chuckle out of reading the word 'sob-sister' in the year 2020, so cheers for that.

how do we add to the list? budding luddite....

It's in a bit of an odd spot, took me a minute to find it too the first time I added something to a list here. :) Just next to 'All Votes'.

Someone needs to remove Feliks. He sounds like a capitalist pos. Probably an AnCap. I thought this was a group for anti capitalist anarchists.

Just ignore him.

So lovely that a list like this has been started! I was just looking for more stories with activist/anarchist vibes in it and pushed "the monkey wrench gang" to the top of my books-to-get-my-hands-on list :D

What do you think about books that have one or more anarchist as main characters (like Lisbeth Salander in The Girl with the Dragen Tattoo) but that are not ultimately about anarchism/activism?

If you like the Monkey Wrench Gang you might be interested in Jim Harrison's book A Good Day to Die. Very similar but came out a couple years earlier. And Harrison is a phenomenal writer.

Lunaia wrote: "So lovely that a list like this has been started! I was just looking for more stories with activist/anarchist vibes in it and pushed "the monkey wrench gang" to the top of my books-to-get-my-hands-..."

Thanks, Lunaia. If you end up liking The Monkey Wrench Gang, you may also like "Hayduke Lives!" and "Little Brother."

Regarding The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, this particular list is for themes of fighting oppressive authorities. "Girl..." is already on a hundred other lists so probably not best for this one.

Just today I discovered Resist Fascism, edited by Crystal Huff, Kay T. Holt and Bart R. Leib. Just added it to the list.

Gary wrote: "Lunaia wrote: "So lovely that a list like this has been started! I was just looking for more stories with activist/anarchist vibes in it and pushed "the monkey wrench gang" to the top of my books-t..."

Good point Gary, that book is definitely on a lot of lists already. I reread your description of the list and added "Property of the Rebel Librarian" and a few other titles instead :)

Thanks!

Cool. Many new stuffs i hadn't known... the master list is Stuart Christie's website, but it is so massive it defeats this reader's intention... Will try to navigate GR's "add" functions -- did try to add Doctorow's Pirate Cinema, whiich, tho a kids' book (YA) is a good read with lots of issues raised and felt.
BTW anyone looked into bookshop.org? It's new platform, and a GR competitor.

bookshop.org is a great source for buying books!